


Keeping it Small But Fresh

by yourlibrarian



Series: Reviews [20]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Gen, Meta, Reviews
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 14:09:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11648145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian
Summary: The latest Spiderman has ties to both past films and the rest of the MCU, but mostly it is about Peter and his special vulnerability.





	Keeping it Small But Fresh

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted July 9, 2017

Although I've only read a few reviews of this movie after I saw it, I think most of them have likely talked about how right Marvel got it in portraying Peter as a high schooler (he explicitly says he's 15) . That's very true and that means that a completely different sort of story can be told. The writing, casting and acting were all quite strong. 

One drawback is that this movie has a lot of story. That means that some characters get shortchanged. However, for a change it's not the villain who doesn't get developed. And I think that helps this movie a lot. What also helps is that the movie doesn't try to backtrack to recreate the origin story. Instead it just gives background on how Peter ends up in Berlin during Civil War. Otherwise, we get to move ahead -- a smart choice given the recency of the Garfield films.

The other drawback is the way that the movie is filmed. A lot of action scenes are so blurry from rapid movement that you really couldn't tell what was happening ( _especially_ when the scene is taking place at night). Second, this movie needs to come with a warning about flashing lights as there is a 5 minute sequence with a plane where all the flashing was bothering me and I don't even have epilepsy. That effect seemed completely unnecessary to me.

Otherwise I was thrilled by a number of things (in no particular order):

### The Long Missing Pepper Potts

I was among those quite annoyed that women were not only not getting their own movies in the Marvel verse anytime soon, but that the women that _did_ exist were getting written out, such as Pepper and Jane. Her cameo is truly a cameo, but I was thrilled that she and Tony are back together and the way that whole scene was handled was really enjoyable. For example we first wonder whether or not Peter was being faked out; then Happy says he's been carrying the ring since 2008 (nice shoutout to Favreau's role as Iron Man director); and then Tony's going to make a very public proposal, which gets done offscreen. 

I imagine diehard Pepper/Tony shippers may be less than thrilled by this spontaneous and unromantic reunion, but while I've always enjoyed them together and supported the ship, just looking at it as a movie viewer this bit was a treat. Plus, it does seem rather like Tony that this is how he'd end up handling it. Most importantly though, since we don't actually see it this moment is ripe for fanfic, as is the tale of how this reunion happened.

### The Ever Helpful Captain America

Every time these little school activity clips appeared they got a laugh in the theater. And they should because they're hilarious (especially when the Coach says offhandedly that Cap's an international criminal now but the school is required to show his videos). Though only a third of the small group of viewers at our showing stayed until the end, everyone laughed at the very end credit appearance. And while there's nothing spoilery about that particular scene, knowing it's coming versus being surprised by its content makes for a completely different experience. When you've sat there for 5 minutes through the credits, there's that dawning realization that the joke's on you. It doesn't work when you're just seeing it in isolation.

And speaking of the final scene, it was a perfect example of the influence of...

### The Ghost of Ferris Bueller

That whole sequence with the backyard run was an obvious homage even before we saw the actual clip on someone's TV (maybe they thought the post-millennial generation wouldn't be familiar enough with the source). But Spiderman in the suburbs was also great because it tackled the longstanding joke about how shafted he would be trying to get around without being able to swing among skyscrapers. And sure enough, he had all sorts of issues. To me that was yet another example of how self-conscious the movie was about its audience, more so than in many of the other MCU movies which, despite their humor, seem more remote.

But I think that the influence of Bueller ran much deeper in the movie than this one scene. For example, the Cap clips were this movie's version of Ben Stein's school appearances combined with Ferris' own 4th wall breakage. This is most obvious in the end credit scene. But while the central characters aren't much like Ferris' close clique, the whole idea of the inner/separate lives of teens just at the border of adult awareness, and the central plot dealing with characters being on the dividing line of adolescence and adulthood, was pretty pertinent. Peter is a few years younger than Ferris, but he is the audience member that Ferris would have been speaking to. In the movie, his stand-in is Tony Stark, an adult Ferris who is trying to get Peter to enjoy what he has before it's gone -- especially since it's Tony's own fault that Peter was thrust into a scenario he wasn't ready for, and he knows only too well what an abbreviated childhood is like.

(Fun side note: Although they're contemporaries, Matthew Broderick is actually 3 years older than RDJ)

Plus, the many bits of school humor! The movie could certainly have used a worse foundation on which to build their story.

### Keeping It Small

This issue is the main plot point -- Peter gets taken to the big leagues too soon and thinks that that's his place, for all the wrong reasons. I liked this central characterization motive for many reasons. First of all, this movie seems to be the most realistic of any of the Marvel superhero films. Peter and Steve Rodgers have a lot in common as less than imposing teenagers, although Peter is following in Tony's footsteps in the sciences. But while Peter is less angry and quippier than Steve, ultimately he's an ordinary guy turned superhero (though as the movie points out, he's still not that physically imposing which is a nice touch and sets him apart).

Steve, however, moved on into a new life a long time ago (even without counting his deep freeze) for ideological reasons. Peter wants to go to war too, but not for ideals. He just doesn't like who he is.

The fact that his antagonist in this movie is Vulture, another everyman just trying to keep his business going, is a perfect counterpoint to Peter. He decides to change everything about his work by the luck of having his hands on some alien tech scrap. Toomes isn't particularly villainous and he doesn't care about taking over the world. He's become a thief because he thinks, correctly, that the system is rigged against little guys like him. He also never loses sight of why he's doing it -- to make things better for his family. 

This doesn't mean that Toomes isn't a criminal. He's creating an escalating problem by arming petty criminals with advanced tech. This isn't a good thing for society. However Toomes' situation is just a small data point in a larger problem. He ran a blue collar company, the kind that's being phased out due to changing technology and (in the real world) outright corruption. He decides to retrain to keep up, but that means doing on a small scale, what he points out to Peter, the Stark family did for more than a generation. The only difference between arming street criminals and arming foreign dictators is whether or not anyone enforces any penalties on the participants. So soldiers in a war get to kill people but neighbors who pull guns on one another get put in prison. And gun makers whose product "disappears" during shipment only to appear on the streets of, let's say, Chicago, exert political and legal clout to keep investigations from getting too close.

By comparison, Toomes is always a "little guy" just like Peter is among superheroes. He's angry at a system stacked against him, but his solution is to protect his own at the expense of everyone else. And at first, Peter is not a whole lot nobler since he wants to be a hero for his own reasons. When his first big fight against the ATM robbers destroys his neighborhood bodega, he starts seeing how good intentions can have casualties close to home. No one is harmed, but he's just done on a small scale what Tony Stark tries to clean up on a larger one. Let's hope the bodega owner had a good insurance company.

Speaking of taking financial hits, I would have liked to see at least a little explanation in the movie as to what Aunt May does with herself all day and how she and Peter can afford even what they have. His seems a more middle class than working class lifestyle considering the high cost of living in their area. But otherwise, the down-to-earth and, early in the film, small scale issues that Peter deals with do a lot to keep the movie grounded (and fun). So too, does his relationship to Toomes which we find out later is closer to home than he could have ever guessed (and is a really wonderful reveal). Despite some pyrotechnics, no one is out to kill anyone and (in the mid-credit scene) it appears Toomes plans to keep it that way for reasons of his own.

### Coming of Age

As I mentioned in the Ferris section, this is a coming of age where the kid decides to stay one a little longer. Regardless, there are various elements to this trope that appear. Although we could have used more of it, the few scenes Peter has with Aunt May hint at a warm and connected relationship. Peter may have been hiding his alter ego but he and May are on good terms. When things go south for him, she is a source of comfort. On the paternal side, Tony taking the suit away from him and holding him accountable are particularly revealing because we know Tony Stark pretty well at this point. He's absolutely right in what he tells Peter. 

I personally find his actions to be Sokovia Accords Pt. II. Tony screwed up in Ultron and wanted to establish a framework for controlling abilities and outcomes. He screwed up again in Civil War by pulling Peter in, and responds by trying to create limits and Peter's own personal curriculum for growing into his powers. Even though Peter feels ignored by a mentor, in fact Tony has a pretty good watch on him. Happy does relay his messages, Tony does pay attention regardless of how busy or far away he is, and he invests a lot of time and money to keep Peter safe and make plans for his future. The audience knows more than Peter does about what Tony and all the Avengers have been going through. And especially if we're older, we can see how typical it is that teens don't see much farther than themselves and their own issues.

Peter feels let down when during his first rescue it turns out he's been given a remote nanny. I remember that when Tony shows up in person after the ferry, cutting Peter off mid-sentence to reveal himself, that there was an anticipatory "Oooh" in the theater. Peter succeeded in getting daddy's full attention but he is going to regret that. Peter wants a lot even though he's already been given so much. Yet he's not appreciative of it -- not yet. I like how this plays as a reversal of the well known catchphrase from Uncle Ben: with great power comes great responsibility. What Tony essentially tells him is that he isn't showing himself responsible enough to be given even more power.

What's nice about Peter being a superhero is that it is particularly fun, and sometimes poignant, to see how he deals with being one. I thought one of the most hilarious bits in the movie is when a news story mentions Spiderman and they show him emerging from a portapotty. His inept questioning of Donald Glover's character (\o/) with his ridiculously overenhanced voice disguiser is wonderfully contrasted with Glover's own laid back, yet kind in his own way, street dealer. Peter's early efforts when he fails to return a bike to its owner, and when he attacks a guy trying to get into his own car, are all wonderfully junior league. Later, the whole segment where Peter puts superhero stuff on the back burner to return his attention to his own life plays very nicely.

But while the other kids in the movie and their priorities aren't given much time, their world does seem real. I loved Zendaya's Michelle, the sort of girl you hardly ever see in movies in general, and even less in superhero films. The idea that she will be MJ was a very cool reveal as I love the idea that someone's "love interest" will be someone not fitting the typical "desired from afar" mold, but rather a person with her own issues and standards, which have nothing to do with popularity or appearance.

Ned was also a lot of fun. "The guy in the chair" thing was both funny and sweet and I wanted to cheer for him when he carried out that role (rather more than him saving Peter during the fight, which he apparently felt was the high point). His role was critical in making Peter seem like a normal teen, and their friendship clicked in that way. The one drawback was that Ned was a little too giving. He's obviously ok with being Peter's sidekick but there are little signs that he'd like to be able to use such an asset for his own popularity. I felt like if Ned had done at least one thing for himself that it would have made him more a character in his own right. But frankly, I loved Ned.

Lisa was also a great love interest for this story. Despite no one but Peter and Toomes getting a lot of time in this film, she came off as a genuine person, real rather than remote, and I would give props to Peter for having great taste. Not just pretty but clearly bright and a leader, as well as kind, there is nothing not to like about her. I felt really bad for her when Peter runs off at the dance, not just because of what that's going to mean for her future, but because that's a pretty awful thing to have happen just in itself. And I liked how Peter going after her dad raised the stakes in that move. In the typical superhero movie, you want the hero to go after the bad guy and not waste his time at the dance. And most of the time, you don't really care that he's going to stand up someone who will probably be hurt by it -- it seems a small thing in bigger stakes. But this time you really do because of who Lisa is, and also because of who her dad is. I kind of wanted Peter to leave Toomes to his scavenging -- I mean, money-wise Tony could afford to lose that entire plane. And if he got Toomes arrested it was going to be devastating to her and her mom. 

And sure enough, she does pay the price. She's no longer going to be at a top school, or even in her hometown. It's possible we'll never see her again, but this movie is the kind that suggests that consequences are not going to disappear like that for Peter. What was also great about the moment when Peter arrives to pick Lisa up is that the traditional and cliched "meeting the dad" awkwardness becomes completely serious. The movie gives it stakes we could never have imagined, even while the ritual itself is completely routine.

I found the same was true when Peter never shows up to the decathlon, because the only reason he's in DC is for his own mission. I felt bad for Ned having to cover for him, and for him letting down his fellow students. It's not only that Peter's put them all at risk as a result of his eagerness to investigate things he doesn't know how to deal with; it's, again, his failure to live up to obligations to people who are counting on him.

We never get to know Flash or the other decathlon kids, but I was ok with that. Honestly Flash didn't seem that important, not because Peter's real opponents were so much bigger, but because Peter was so self-sabotaging on his own that Flash didn't seem to matter much. (I do wonder though what happened with his dad's car though...)

Speaking of the car, that was another little thing I liked. Peter needs Ned to be his handler...so that he can figure out how to turn on the headlights. I can totally relate to not being able to find things in a new car even though, unlike Peter, I've been driving longer than he's been alive.

In the end, Peter's school isn't simply a set piece -- we do get bits of the lives of other students, their personalities, even that of their teachers and principal. And speaking of the principal...

### Interconnectedness

I liked the way that Peter's story fit within other parts of the established MCU. This is particularly obvious with Tony's involvement (and the return appearance of Happy), but it also provides us the best look yet at the public's reaction to the Avengers. Joss Whedon tried to do a bit of that in a side story to the Avengers during the Battle of New York (which got cu,t but was available in home release), and in a quick montage after it. But Steve's current day public service work, the fuck/marry/kill discussions of the girls in gym class, Peter's home movie of the Berlin trip, the fate of Stark tower, Peter's very own FRIDAY, the Avengers masks used by the ATM robbers, the tech equipment being moved upstate, all these little bits and other throwaway lines I've forgotten, enrich the verse and make it seem like more of a real place.

I noticed, for example, that in the scene where Peter's in the principal's (awfully small) office, that there was a photo of a military officer in it. I hadn't recognized Kenneth Choi as Jim Morita until that moment. But apparently he's supposed to be Morita's descendant, which is a nice little shoutout.

### The Open Secret of Vulnerability

Sure all the MCU characters have their moments of vulnerability. One of the things that made the first Iron Man great is that you can empathize with Tony Stark's horror and helplessness when he's been kidnapped, and his guilt over Yinsen's death. Perhaps because he's not physically superpowered there's something more relatable to Tony's vulnerability. And even though Peter is far stronger and more durable than Tony, he's emotionally untested in a way Tony and the other superheroes we've met were not. When Peter nearly drowns, when he's in a utter panic at the ferry, and when he cries out of sheer fear under the rubble, it's much easier to empathize with him. His youth makes him vulnerable in a way that is unlike that of any other hero we've met so far.

There are other small chinks in his armor we wouldn't have guessed at, such as his fear of heights at the Washington Monument, that remind us just how far he still has to go in this superhero business. We see this come into play when he meets Toomes and realizes the terrible bind that he is in. It's not yet because he's under threat, but because he realizes the dilemma he faces: protect Lisa or walk the harder path? He's shocked and unable to act normal throughout their whole time together, not until they meet up again in the warehouse after he's made his choice.

### Stuff I'm Not as Keen On and Final Notes

One was RDJ's performance. It's best in the scene post-ferry but somehow he seemed to be playing Tony Stark more than actually being Tony Stark. That's unfortunate, because it distracts from the otherwise grounded sense of the movie. Another was the fact that Peter has a JARVIS of his own. There are some fun moments with Karen, largely because it helps highlight his inability to control his own suit, and because her literalness in helping gives him someone to bounce off of (and Peter spends a lot of this movie on his own). The most significant factor though is because things like the enhanced interrogation and kill modes bring into some relief the difference between Stark's world and Peter's. 

However, I spent some time wondering how Karen could possibly exist in that suit (it's easier to believe with the Iron Man armor), and it just seemed a bit too much too soon since Peter has plenty else to figure out about himself and his capabilities without amping things up. This does, however, allow us to see his growth when he turns down yet another great suit after not even understanding the current one.

I notice we've graduated from [70s music to 80s music](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8576149) in this film, but the end credits demonstrate Marvel's definitely going for the youth market with this hero. Also, I really liked where the movie cut off, with May's discovery. It was a good way of bringing attention back to Peter, given the recent bit with Tony, Happy, and Pepper. Hopefully that will mean she gets a bigger role next time around.

Also, while I'm guessing the title Homecoming had to do with the dance as a climactic event in the story, it also feels fitting for a movie which brings Spiderman firmly into the MCU and gives him the story he deserves.


End file.
